Pet Food Industry Complains Consumers are Suing Too Much

A pet food industry spokesperson is ‘shocked, dismayed and concerned’ that pet food consumers are suing the pet food industry more often these days. It seems the pet food industry doesn’t understand that consumers are simply fed up with sick and dying pets and the lies.

Debbie Phillips-Donaldson is editor-in-chief for the publication Pet Food Industry; this publication is owned by WATT Media. As reminder, WATT Media hosts a pet food industry trade event each year – an event that I am not allowed to attend. In 2011 and in 2012 I requested a press pass to attend the Pet Food Forum hosted by WATT Media. I was told “no” I cannot attend. Not with a press pass, not with paid admission. This WATT Media trade event is open to industry – not consumer advocates. I was told I was a “conflict of interest” in a phone conversation with WATT Media.

It is Ms. Phillips-Donaldson job to write in defense of the pet food industry, so we can understand her opinion – but we certainly don’t have to agree with her. Often she has crossed a line (in my opinion), not taking into consideration the people that actually provides her a job (consumers) – and in a recent post I feel she crossed that line again.

Ms. Phillips-Donaldson’s post titled “Pet food class action lawsuits becoming the norm” states that consumers used to ‘vote with their wallets’ when they “didn’t like a company’s practices or products”. She shares that US consumers are moving towards class action lawsuits against pet foods/treats “because, well, they can.”

She shares she believes the growing number of consumer lawsuits against pet food “stems from a lack of consumer trust in the industry” – and continues with stating the lack of trust “stems from the 2007 melamine-related pet food recalls, when many consumers found out for the first time how some pet food was made and where some ingredients came from. And, in my opinion, with a few exceptions, the industry missed the perfect opportunity then to commit to transparency in those and other areas, and win back most pet owners’ trust.”

And Ms. Phillips-Donaldson’s opinion is that she doesn’t believe the recent rash of lawsuits – for Made in the USA claims in pet food/treats – hasn’t caused any harm to anyone, so why sue?

Opinion: Let me educate you a bit Ms. Phillips-Donaldson. Pet food consumers are fed up with the misleading marketing in pet food/treats. They are fed up with sick pets or dead pets and no one is held accountable. The FDA states that an estimated 1,000 dogs died from consuming jerky treats from China. The FDA has been investigating these deaths and many more illnesses for 9 years – yes, 9 years – with no resolve. For you to say that misleading Made in the USA claims are not harming anyone, is very short-sited.

Consumers are fed up with ‘Made with Real Chicken’ when the chicken can actually be sourced from diseased chickens rejected for use as ‘food’. They feel scammed when images of grilled meat are allowed to be displayed on the label when regulations require images to be truthful. Consumers are furious that the FDA continues to allow the pet food industry to violate federal law – with no warnings on the label.

You are right about one thing – in 2007 “the industry missed the perfect opportunity then to commit to transparency”. Most have ignored that opportunity every year since.

Why are consumers turning to lawyers to right the wrongs in pet food? Because lawyers are the only ones listening to us. We’ve tried all other venues – FDA, State Department of Agriculture, AAFCO. They are slow at best. Lawyers listen and take swift action to right a wrong. We like that.

Pet food consumers have waited for six and a half years for FDAAA (updated pet food regulations required by Congress to be completed by September 2009). Pet food consumers have filed countless death and illness reports with FDA and received no investigation. Jerky treat consumers have waited 9 years for FDA to give them an explanation of their pet’s death or kidney disease. We are tired of waiting. We are tired of sick pets and no accountability. You/the industry want the lawsuits to stop, well I’d suggest stop killing or sickening our pets. You stop, we’ll stop. Until pet food is truly safe – until pet food abides by federal law, every law – we’re going to keep calling our lawyers.

And by the way, if Pet Food Industry and WATT Media wants to set a good example to pet food manufacturers of making that first step towards transparency – how about inviting myself and about 10 consumers for free admission to the Pet Food Forum? You say that the industry ‘missed the perfect opportunity for transparency’ – why not start that transparency yourself and allow us to see behind the curtain?

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Susan, you are amazing, in your tireless work on behalf of our furry children!! It’s so hard to believe the pet food industry people are so hard hearted when it comes to sickening & killing our furry ones!! Then they have the audacity to ask why consumers sue them??? Pretty obvious I would think. Thank you for all you have done & continue to do on our pets behalf. It is obvious how much you care & how hard you work. God bless you!! Sincerely, Ruth in Arizona & our furry child, Miss Kitty. Kitty is a rescue dog we have had for 8 years & who is now healthy, thanks to your research & publications on safe dog food. I know she is alive thanks to you!! We were feeding her the bad jerky treats from China & the wrong dog foods. She was very sick for a while. Thank God we saw your articles & cleaned up our act & started feeding her according to your research!

Susan, I have already sent my views to Debbie this morning expressing my frustration with the manufacturers in not being willing to address consumer concerns beyond reading pre-arranged talking points that just say, “trust us”. We have no trust in the industry that is not interested in consumer comments that could improve their finished products. The litigation will continue until the industry changes it’s arrogant mindset.

So, consumers lost faith in commercial pet foods when their dogs and cats died because of melamine in 2007. Now, when they question ingredients and label claims, and something comes to light like Blue Buffalo lying about meat by-product meals in foods despite label claims to the contrary, they should not hold the company accountable? Rather, they should just not buy that food? They incurred the extra expense of buying the mislabeled food at a higher price than competitors’ that were truthfully labelled as containing meat by product meals. To equate this with the potential KitKat lawsuit clearly shows how little you actually care about the consumers who purchase the products made by your industry.
They let me comment — here’s what I wrote:

When you suggest people just “vote with their wallet,” you miss two major functions of a class action suit — to raise public awareness of the issue, and to impact the companies’ behavior in a significant manner, which means money. Far more than a mild dip in sales that might happen after some social media bashing.

Fortunately, there is a simple solution. Make a good product. Don’t lie about what’s in it, where it comes from, or how it’s made.

The pet food industry, the FDA and AAFCO have continued to ignore the serious concerns of consumers, have done nothing to improve the foods, the transparency, the response to complaints, etc. Instead all these groups have increased the distrust by deceptive advertising, ignoring federal laws, allowing toxic ingredients, not really researching into complaints, no accountability, attacking raw food, yet, supporting poor quality foods, etc. I am, generally, not supportive of our overly litigious society, but when all the normal avenues of recourse result in no improvements, and our pets are still getting ill and dying, with no one (except the caretakers) upset about these occurrences, law suits seem to be the only way. As long as the law suits have merit, the more, the better.

You should be welcomed to this trade event. After all, it’s the consumers who will be purchasing these foods and have a right to know what the industry intends to sell to unsuspecting pet owners. Stating a “conflict of interest” as a reason for keeping you from attending is absurd–unless they are afraid of the truth leaking out. The real conflict of interest is allowing the pet food industry to determine much of the garbage and useless unhealthy ingredients permitted in pet foods, as well as, having a compliance, list, for their benefit, that ignores federal law. You are on the AAFCO board, so why shouldn’t you be allowed access? If the foods are “supposed” to be safe, and there is nothing to hide, an invitation for you and some other consumers should be a given. They “should” appreciate the objective feedback.

Of course, there is a “lack of consumer trust in the industry”. Why shouldn’t there be?!

She shares she believes the growing number of consumer lawsuits against pet food “stems from a lack of consumer trust in the industry” – and continues with stating the lack of trust “stems from the 2007 melamine-related pet food recalls, when many consumers found out for the first time how some pet food was made and where some ingredients came from.

OMG! How horrible that the consumers found the pet food industry’s secrets!! Does she have no insight into her own statements?

Made in the USA does mean something, and it is supposed to mean something when it appears on a label. It always amazes… I wonder how these pet food executives would react if the same attitude was applied to baby food that they feed to their children?

Not long ago, I spoke with an ex-employee of a well-known pet food store. The store’s identity is based on exclusively “natural” products and OTC therapies. This person told me that she “quit… because (she) couldn’t take it any longer.” She described that the manager had “instructed” her to pull the “Made in China” labels off of “rawhide chews” so that they could be put in a “Made in USA” bin for sale.

Of course I have no means to know if the story is true… but I wonder what would cause her to create such a terrible tale, with nothing to gain…

Made in the USA is supposed to mean something. The legal action(s) are a welcome change in the manufacturer/consumer relationship.

For some unknown reason – Facebook has locked my admin control of my pages (my Truth about Pet Food page). I can’t post on it. It could be related to that. I am going to write a post asking for help from anyone out there that might work for Facebook and would help me. It’s been over a week now – Facebook is not responding to me.

Pets are living beings, like us. People say that their dog is a part of their family, and yet, they still insist on feeding processed food every day, for its whole life.

Consumers need to wake up, take control and stop blaming other people for their ignorance. There’s so much information out there to teach people what to feed pets. How do they think they survived before these money hungry manufacturers of commercial pet foods took over our pets diet protocol?
Easy, just don’t buy the damn stuff! It’s not hard people!

Karen, what you say is true. However, it’s really not that simple. I believe that the majority of people either do not want to make their dog’s food or do not have the time to do so or do not have the means to do so. Most caring people want the best for their pets and think that paying a premium price equals premium food. Many understand that such is not the case and it is up to the people like us, who understand how badly the big dog food industry has hoodwinked people with their fancy packaging and glorified descriptions, to help educate others. It’s a long and slow process. I have friends who don’t care to be informed about the quality of the food they are giving their pets, but I also have people who really listen hard and are convinced by what I say and the articles I send to them and can make real changes for many others. Little by little, I know that Susan and her followers are making a difference in an inverse pyramidal manner.

Please forgive me for quoting the following Persian proverb. I do not mean to slam anyone.

He who knows not and knows not that he knows not is a fool . . . shun him.
He who knows not and knows that he knows not is ignorant . . . teach him.
He who knows and knows not that he knows is asleep . . . wake him.
He who knows and knows that he knows is a wise man . . . follow him.

Susan is working tirelessly to make significant changes in the pet food industry so that all of the above can benefit from actually getting what they think they are buying for their pets. Too few are willing to actually make their pets’ food. Homemade food can be quite expensive and not all have the means to do so. Please don’t give up on trying to educate people as, until the laws and practices are changed, we need to help those who will heed the message we are so willing to share.